Myanmar Study on Cooperation for the Establishing of Intellectual Property Office

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Myanmar Study on Cooperation for the Establishing of Intellectual Property Office Myanmar Ministry of Science and Technology Myanmar Study on Cooperation for the Establishing of Intellectual Property Office Final Report March 2014 Japan International Cooperation Agency Kyoto Comparative Law Center Oh-Ebashi LPC & Partners IL JR 14-039 Contents Map of Myanmar Abstract Chapter I: Introduction 1.1 Background ···················································································· 1 1.2 Framework of the Survey ·································································· 1 1.3 Survey Target ·················································································· 4 1.4 Activities and Schedule ······································································ 4 1.5 Survey Method ·············································································· 5 1.6 Survey Itinerary ············································································· 7 Chapter II: Current Status of Intellectual Property Law System 2.1 Current Status of Intellectual Property Law System ····································· 11 2.1.1 Overview of Intellectual Property Law System ····································· 11 2.1.2 Trademark Law ·········································································· 11 2.1.3 Patent Law ················································································ 16 2.1.4 Industrial Design Law ·································································· 17 2.1.5 Copyright Law ··········································································· 18 Chapter III: Concerned Ministries for Intellectual Property 3.1 Survey Target ·················································································· 25 3.2 Ministry of Information ······································································ 25 3.3 Ministry of Industry ·········································································· 26 3.4 Ministry of Communication and Information Technology ······························ 27 3.5 Ministry of Commerce ······································································· 28 3.6 Ministry of Home Affairs ···································································· 29 Chapter IV: Current Situation of Intellectual Property Laws and Intellectual Property Office 4.1 Intellectual Property Development Plan of Myanmar ··································· 33 4.1.1 Patent Law ················································································ 34 4.1.2 Industrial Design Law ·································································· 35 4.1.3 Tradmark Law ··········································································· 35 4.1.4 Copyright Law ··········································································· 36 4.1.5 Process of Enactment of Law ·························································· 37 4.1.6 Position of MOST ······································································· 38 4.2 Current Situation on the Establishment of Intellectual Property Office ··············· 38 4.2.1 Background ··············································································· 38 4.2.2 Role and Functions of Intellectual Property Office ································· 39 4.2.3 Business of Intellectual Property Office ·············································· 41 Chapter V: Current Intellectual Property Situation 5.1 Introduction ···················································································· 45 5.1.1 Trademark ················································································ 45 5.1.2 Copyright ················································································· 48 5.1.3 Patents and industrial designs ·························································· 49 5.2 Current Intellectual Property Situation of Company ····································· 50 5.2.1 Company A ··············································································· 51 5.2.2 Company B ··············································································· 52 5.2.3 Company C ··············································································· 53 5.2.4 Company D ··············································································· 54 5.2.5 Company E ··············································································· 55 5.2.6 Company F ··············································································· 55 5.2.7 Company G ··············································································· 57 5.3 Awareness of Issues on Intellectual Property by Companies ··························· 58 5.4 Current situation of Enforcement among Ministries ····································· 59 5.5 Necessity of Establishing a Proper Scheme for Enforcement ·························· 60 5.6 Enforcement Body in ASEAN ······························································ 61 Chapter VI: General Outcomes and Proposals 6.1 General Outcomes ············································································ 65 6.1.1 Vision ····················································································· 68 6.2 Proposals ······················································································· 75 6.2.1 Propoals on Intellectual Property Laws and Detailed Regulations ··············· 77 6.2.2 Proposals on establishment of the Intellectual Property Office ··················· 82 6.2.3 Function Facilitation of Overall Intellectual Property System ···················· 92 Appendix Appendix 1 Reports of the Dialogues 1. 1st Dialogue ························································································ 111 2. 2nd Dialogue ······················································································· 125 3. 3rd Dialogue ······················································································· 141 Appendix 2 Reports of the Seminars 1. Seminar on 3 February, 2014 (Nay Pyi Taw) [basic Intellectual Property] ··············· 153 2. Seminar on 4 February, 2014 (Nay Pyi Taw) [Enforcement] ······························· 158 3. Workshop on 7 December, 2013 (Yangon) ···················································· 161 4. Workshop on 5 February, 2014 (Mandalay) ·················································· 165 5. Summary of the Seminars and Workshops ···················································· 169 Appendix 3 ASEAN Survey Report Indonesia ······························································································ 179 Malaysia ······························································································ 204 Thailand ······························································································· 235 Vietnam ······························································································· 266 Appendix 4 Roadmap (tentative) ····························································· 317 Appendix 5 Lists of Names ····································································· 323 Map of Myanmar (Source:www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/myanmar.pdf) Abstract This project on the system and management of intellectual property rights (hereinafter referred to as “IPR”, and intellectual property as “IP”) in Myanmar was conducted with the cooperation of Japan Patent Office (hereinafter referred to as “JPO”), Agency for Cultural Affairs, etc. aiming to promote preparation of environment where the establishment plan can be formulated and implemented through deepening understanding of public and private stakeholders and coordinating their opinions. Specifically, while keeping the following four points in mind, three dialogues, interview surveys in Myanmar, and survey of ASEAN nations were conducted. (i) To recognize the current situation of IPR system and its administration and identify the challenges in Myanmar as well as to confirm the progress of IPR system development and identify the challenge. (ii) To make public and private stakeholders of Myanmar to better understand IPR through seminars and dialogues, foster common understanding on IP Office, examine the establishment plan, and make the stakeholders share the concept. (iii) To collect and sort out information on the current state and the situation at the time of establishment of IP administrative organizations in Japan and neighboring countries, and extract applicable cases for Myanmar. (iv) To summarize the proposals for establishment of IP Office, and make presentation of the recommendations in the seminars and dialogues. The contents of project as contained in Chapter I to VI are summarized from below-Chapter I to VI. Chapter I describes the framework of surveys, survey targets, and timeline of survey of this project. Chapter II summarizes the current IP system in Myanmar. Although Myanmar has no IP laws except for Copyright Act, trademark is protected by registration under common law. Therefore, this chapter put together mainly trademark and copyright. In addition, the remedy system based on various laws is also compiled. Chapter III describes the ministries relevant to IP. The activities of respective ministries concerning IP are introduced based on the interview survey. Chapter IV sums up the situations of IP four laws and establishment of IP Office. Ministry of Science and Technology (hereinafter referred to as “MOST”) plays a central role for enacting IP laws and establishing IP Office. The
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